Chapter 20: Friday (pt 4)

Andrew found himself a good spot on the side of the stage to watch his sister and look out into the crowd below. Even though he was less than excited to be there, it would cause more of a headache if his sister got up to something crazy and their mom found out.

Wearing a sleek black three piece suit, the unquestionably attractive CEO caught the attention of the other club employees working in the wings of the stage. He stood out from the rest of the club goers, who were mainly wearing a mix of fashionable street wear and casual suits.

Some of the professional dancers, who were waiting to go out onto the stage, were taking bets to guess if he was a hot bodyguard or a handsome benefactor of the club. They convinced Carrie, their newest dancer, to go up and ask him, but on her way over, Andrew pulled at his neck tie, loosening its hold around his beautifully sculpted neck. That action alone caused the rookie to squeal, attracting a split second glare from the cold CEO, which made her halt in her tracks and nervously run back to the group of senior dancers.

Why is it so hot in this d*mn club? Andrew thought to himself as he unbuttoned the top button of his shirt.

He was not used to the club scene, and was growing tired of waiting on the sidelines for his sister's set to end. Eager to pass the time, he moved a couple steps to the side and scanned his eyes across the large room, curious about the inside of the club. A large dancefloor in front of the stage with flashing lights overhead made up a majority of the space. Around the perimeter of the room he could see a couple bars and a large balcony wrapping around the second level that looked down onto the main dancefloor.

Shifting his eyes back to the lively crowd below, he observed a drunk man taking his shirt off and swinging it around in the air above him, a group of women popping a bottle of champagne and sharing it amongst themselves, and a twenty something years old couple taking a selfie in front of the stage. He continued scanning the crowd until a familiar face caught his eye. He saw the woman exiting the crowd with a short red haired woman, she looked like the front desk receptionist that works alongside Lillian.

Thinking back to the text he had received from Lillian earlier that night, he anxiously searched the crowd, looking to see if his fiancée was there. He drew a path from where he spotted Jacky to the center of the crowd. It was a little dark, but a rotating light flashed over, illuminating the faces in front of the stage. To his astonishment, he found Lillian dancing gleefully in the crowd below.

Her eyes were bright as the lights shone over them; her smile wide as she bobbed her head from side to side. Her usually well kept hair was looking charmingly messy as she moved her body side to side, feeling the rhythm of the music in the club.

He could not help but get mesmerized by the intoxicating energy of her dance. Unbeknownst to him, a small smile plastered itself on his face as he watched Lillian having the time of her life on the dance floor. It was as if the world was theirs and theirs alone, the stubbornly work obsessed man found himself enjoying dancing for the first time in his life.

In the middle of her set, Anna peaked over to see if her stuffy brother was doing alright on the side of the stage. Noticing her brother's stupid grin, she had a short laugh to herself underneath her mask.

Ha, who would've ever thought I'd see the day my boring brother actually enjoying himself at a club. She beamed internally as she took credit for dragging him out to the club tonight.

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Andrew was deep in a trance, unconsciously beginning to tap his foot to the beat, as he got infected by Lillian's energy watching her dance. He was just about to try an uncharacteristic side shuffle, when he noticed the look on Lillian's face go stark. Her brilliant smile turned into a frustrated frown in less than a second, that was when Andrew's eyes darted to the man who had grabbed her from behind.

Not knowing what came over him, his blood suddenly went hot and his vision tunneled in on the disgusting man. His feet seemed to move on his own as he rushed out from behind the stage curtain and jumped off from the side, pushing his way through the tightly packed crowd.

He finally reached where they were, and without hesitation pulled the man off of her then sent an uppercut straight to his gut in one swift motion, causing the creep to double over and fall to the floor gasping for air. Without waiting to see if the man would recover, he threw his coat over Lillian's bare shoulders and took her hand, hurriedly leading her off the dancefloor and outside for some fresh air.

"Hey, HEY. You're walking too fast, can you please slow down?" Lillian forced out between breaths as she struggled to keep up with Andrew's speedy pace.

Noticing they had already made it four blocks from the club, Andrew stopped in his tracks and turned around to see Lillian put her hand on her chest to catch her breath. She turned her head left then right to observe her surroundings, then wobbled a bit, taking a step to the side to rest her left palm against the wall of the convenience store they had stopped in front of.

She looked up at Andrew's face, the bright city lights behind him blurring and causing her head to spin. She blinked twice before slumping her head down, then slowing lowered herself to the pavement, searching for the comfortable stability of the hard ground.

"Lillian, are you alright?" Andrew asked her in a deep low voice, concern written over his statue-like face.

A hint of a tear began to well up in the side of her eye when she looked up at Andrew who was now crouching down beside her. "Why do st-stoopid men always have to ruin the f-fun!" She paused for a moment, sitting herself completely on the ground and stretching out her legs in front of her. A goofy smile washed across her face and she looked back at Andrew, directly meeting his concerned gaze, "I'm all better now! Thanks to this Collddd HAArddd ground. You never betray me, do you baby?" She looked at the pavement lovingly and smacked her hand on the concrete. "Ow!" she puffed out her lower lip and sniffled, identifying the scrape on her hand.

Andrew let out a deep sigh and told her to wait there. He came back a couple minutes later with a bottle of water and a pack of Band-Aids from the store next to them.